Rein-guide.



Patented Oct. l6, I900. w. A. RHODES.

REIN GUIDE.

(Application filed June 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

lhwrrnn STATES arena Urrrcn.

WILLIAM A. RHODES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

RElN -GU lDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,899, dated October 16, 1900.

Application filed June 21, 1899.

T0 will when it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM A. Rnonns, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvementin Rein Guides, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a rein guide or holder, and while it is capable of manifold uses it is of peculiar importance in connection with harness, to which it is ordinarily applied, and in the embodiment of the inven tion herein illustrated I usually provide two of the devices, one for each rein, and as a substitute for the ordinary guide-rings through which the reins are threaded, and these devices are secured to the upper side of the saddle and are spaced or separated at a proper distance apart. \Vhen the reins are passed through the well-known rings upon the saddle, they are loose therein, and the horse when he throws his head forward pulls upon the reins to such an extent that they are carried well forward by their momentum and an objectionable slack is left betwen the rings and the bit. Furthermore, with these rings it is necessary to separately thread or pass the reins through them in harnessing or unharnessing, which naturally consumes some time and more particularly when the grasping or driving ends of the reins are strapped or otherwise joined together. WVith my improved guide, however, the disadvantages pointed out, as well as others to be hereinafter alluded to, are entirely overcome, as no slack or looseness of the rein can take place between the horses head and the place at which the guide is mounted,while at the same time the motion of his head is in no wise restricted, and the horse can be readily harnessed or unharnessed with rapidity without the necessity of threading the reins separately through the guides, (two being ordinarily employed,) and the construction is such that the reins are prevented from turning,which is disagreeable to certain drivers.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a saddle provided with a guide constructed in accordance with my invention and showing the same in a convenient and simple embodiment. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of one of Serial No. 721,346. (No model.)

said guides, showing the swinging member in its normal and shifted position by full and dotted lines, respectively. Fig. 3 is a trans verse section of the same, taken on the line 3 3 and looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the upper portion of the saddle provided with two of the guides located at opposite sides of the apex thereof.

In the drawings, wherein the guides are represented in their preferred embodiment and are denoted by G, they are shown as secured to a saddle S, which may be of any suitable kind. The rein -guide G may be made from any suitable material and finish and includes in its organization a body portion, as B, and which is represented as consisting of a plate adapted to be secured to the saddle or other convenient part and a clamping member, as C, also represented as a plate. The clamping jaw or member 0 may be shiftably connected to the body or main portion B, as by a hinge 1, so that the part 0 can be swung up out of its normal parallel relation with the part B to permit of the ready intro-.

duction or removal of a rein. The body B is furnished with the upright lug or car 5, disposed between the cooperating lug or cars (3, depending in parallelism from the jaw or plate 0, and these cars are adapted to receive the pivot-pin 7, headed usually at its opposite ends to prevent its displacement. The body portion B is illustrated as secured to the post P, having an enlargement S, the under flat face of which is adapted to fit snugly against the saddle when the screw-threaded portion 9 of said post is properly seatedin an internally-threaded socket in the saddle. The head or enlarged portion 8 of the post P has a reduced upper end or stud 10, extending through an aperture in the body portion B and adapted to seat the screw 12, constituting a simple device for holding said post or screw P in place, and between the head of the screw and the body portion the usual washer is placed. The body portion B is provided with perpendicular projections 13, notched or bifurcated, as at 14, to receive the cooperating projections 15, which extend likewise from the upper shiftable section C, the ears 6, to which I have hereinbefore alluded, constituting a part of what is shown in Fig. 2 as the right-hand projection.

The guide G is provided with guide members or gripping devices between which the rein is clamped with a sufficient pressure as to cause a crimping effect upon the same, so that when the horse throws his head forward the rein can freely move with it, but can only be pulled a distance equal to the throw of the horses head, the purchase upon the rein preventing it from being carried forward beyond such extent. The guide members to which I have just referred are represented as three rolls, one, as 16, being supported between the projections 15, while the lower rolls 16 are supported for rotation between the projections 13. It will be seen that the several rolls just mentioned are arranged in triangular order (see Fig. 3) and that one of them is carried by the part 0, while the other two are carried by the part B, and they are separated such a distance as to permit the rein to move freely backward and forward, but to prevent the same from being pulled forward too far. As the rolls 16' and 16 are of some length, being made longer than the rein is wide, they serve when said rein is clamped to them to prevent it turning uponitself.

The hinged parts B and O are represented as held closed by a spring finger or catch 20, rigidly secured in some suitable manner to the downward projection 21 upon the upper part 0, extended beyond the end of the roller 16' and having ofisets or shoulders 22 to engage under the part B, extended beyond the end of the roller 16, when the free end of said spring-catch is thrust into a notch 23 therein, said free end being rounded, as at 24, to facilitate its ready operation.

In Fig. 2 the hinge member 0 is shown as occupying its normal position, a rein R beingillustrated as secured between the cooperating rolls 16 and 16. To remove the rein, the finger-piece 24 of the spring-catch 20 will be pushed outward until the shoulders or offsets 23 pass out of contact with the part B, so that the hinged member 0 can be raised to the dotted-line position or sufficiently far to permit the removal of the rein. To insert the rein, the part 0 is unfastened and swung up, so that the said rein can be placed upon the parallel rolls 16, after which the parts 0 will be closed and latched by the springcatch 20, which firmly holds said part 0 in its locked position.

The post or screw P is in the nature of a carrier for the guide G, and they are connected by a swivel-joint, it being remembered that they are united by the screw 12, the plain portion of which is in the nature of a pivot. This construction permits the turning of the guide at anyangle relatively to its carrier, so that the reins will be properly alined no matter where the driver may sit, as the guide G can turn readily with varia tions in the position of the rein.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. A rein-guide having two members hinged together, each member having bearings, a pair of rolls supported by the bearings upon one of said members, a single roll supported by the bearings upon the other member, said rolls being arranged to be freely rotative and mounted in a'triangular order, and each of said members being projected beyond the bearings that support the rolls at one end, and a spring-latch rigidly secured to one of said projecting portions and having a shoulder, and the other projecting portion having a catch to be engaged by said shoulder.

2. Arein-guide having two members hinged together, each member having bearings, a pair of rolls supported by the bearings upon one of said members, a single roll supported by the bearings upon the other member, said rolls being arranged to be freely rotative and mounted in a triangular order, and each of- 

